What Makes You Beautiful
by The Cliffhanger Girl
Summary: She had the cuts...he had the band-aids.


Hey guys! I don't know if you guys know the band "One Direction" or not...but uh, I've recently became addicted to their music because of my friends. So, I'd like to thank them for telling me a story about one of the band members. So, thanks to One Direction, you have this one-shot called "What Makes You Beautiful"...

**A SPECIAL THANKS TO MY BETA READER-**SomeoneNamedLiz

_**In this, assume Eli's music is One Direction's music...thank you :)**_

* * *

><p><strong><span>WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL<span>**

_I walked through the hallway_  
><em>holding my wrists<em>  
><em>hoping no one will see me like this<em>  
><em>he looks at me, scared what he'll find, he never thought I had these things in mind<em>  
><em>he asks me "...is there any more?" looking at him with tears in my eyes<em>  
><em>I whisper a simple reply "..what did you think bracelets were for...?"<em>

Clare Edwards sits beside her bed, her knees clutched tightly to her chest as she shakily grabs her earphones. Her heartbeat is unsteady, her lungs closing in on her as she brings the ear buds to her ears, resting them in the place where she feels they should permanently remain.

She forces a smile, listening to the one voice that's meant to be in her head.

Her heart flutters to the sound of the teen heartthrob's voice, and she smiles as tears stream down her face, while she mouths the lyrics. Clare starts to slowly rock her body back and forth, not being able to control herself as the chorus comes around.

Elijah Goldsworthy, the boy with the _dreamy looks_ and voice of an _angel._

She sighs out of delight, wishing that this wasn't the only thing that brought her to a peaceful world...but, she takes what she can get at this point. Her lips twitch as a hiss escapes her lips when she rolls up her sweater slightly, revealing her raw cuts.

The blood is still there, seeping down her wrist.

Clare gulps, letting Elijah's voice echo through her head, and she hopes-,no, prays that one day, she'll be able to meet the teenage boy who makes her cut horizontally across her wrists and not vertically down her arm like she is always tempted to.

She hears loud banging on her door, and in less than an instant, her calm state is broken.

Her head shoots up to the door as she quickly moves her sweater over her cuts. She glances at the door, waiting for him to storm through like every Tuesday after he has a bad day at work.

Clare's voice gets caught in her throat as she watches the bolts to her door come flying off and she glances around, trying to find an escape route. But, as usual, there's no way out of the Tuesday night beating.

She flinches, and in one backhanded slap, her lip is bleeding. Her skin is so used to it, but every time he does that, her face has become so sensitive to the rough touch that the only way to react, is to bleed.

The next thing she knows, her earphones are ripped out from ears, making her cry even harder, not being able to listen to_** his **_voice to calm her down.

"Why do you have to be so fucking ugly?" Her father yells at her, and she smiles, not being able to fight the grin because of how ridiculous he sounds. Clare doesn't know why, and quite frankly, she doesn't care at this point.

**She knows she's ugly, why does he have to remind her?**

Seventeen year old Clare Edwards' chin trembles in fear as her father's foot comes in contact with her ribs. Her body connects with the floor, as he gently gets down to her eye level. Her heart races, as he strokes his rough fingers through her curly hair and hisses through gritted teeth, "So ugly...just like your mother."

**Her mother has been dead for five years.**

"I-It's not my fault the apple doesn't fall far from the tree," Clare screams back, as her face is now beat red, her teeth chattering and tears flowing down her face. She whimpers, wishing she wasn't human and to have the ability to not cry, that way she couldn't let him see her weak side.

"Scrub that mouth of yours with soap and come down to dinner when you don't look...like you," he seethes, as she whimpers, and her bedroom door slams shut. She gulps, her throat feeling dry as her bloody fingers search for her IPod.

She smiles, a tiny pool of blood forming beneath her chin onto her white carpeted floor as she presses "play". Her heart instantly returns to its normal pace, her blood pressure probably lowering as Elijah's voice fills her ears.

Clare is tempted to get up and _**kill **_her father, but she doesn't...instead, she lies on the floor, face down, tasting her own blood and listening to the beautiful voice that saves her life every time...

* * *

><p><strong>XXXXXXXX-ONE MONTH LATER-XXXXXXXX<strong>

* * *

><p>She doesn't believe she's here, and even though her eyes aren't playing tricks on her, she still can't believe it.<p>

Her mind wanders_ happily_ as she stands with her whole life inside her bag that she frantically packed before her father could get home. The shy smile and blush can't be hidden as she watches Elijah Goldsworthy be surrounded by all of his screaming _**fans.**_

Clare doesn't try and shove her way through to get to him. No; she just stands behind the crowd while holding her hands behind her back nervously.

"Alright guys! Just relax and I'll get to all of you!" He screams out, his masculine voice filling Clare's ears and for the first time, she doesn't need to force a smile. Her heart flutters happily as she watches the excessive amount of people start to disperse after an hour of waiting.

_**Tears stream down her cheeks, and she doesn't even know why.**_

Maybe it's the fact that she's not dressed like the other girls who were to trying to impress him, or the fact that her hand-me-down dress fell right below her knees. She gulps, as Elijah removes his sunglasses and he smirks, saying, "You know...I don't bite."

Clare turns around, making sure that he's talking to her and not anybody else.

"I-I-," Clare fights herself to say something to him, to thank him for all the times he has saved her from herself and for the breathtaking music that keeps her heart beating day after day.

He smirks, and moves underneath the rope that blocked him from the crowd not too long ago.

She jolts, taking a step back as tears loosely fall down her face when he is less than inches away from her. Her chest heaves, as a mental barrier is lifted when she releases her arms from behind her back and a tear forms in his eyes, glancing down at her severely cut wrists.

Her hand involuntarily jolts back, feeling the same fear when _**he**_ places a touch on her hand, and he smiles, nodding, "I don't want to hurt you."

The way his voice is so reassuring, Clare slowly trusts him and believes he wouldn't do anything to hurt her as she shakily gives him her hand. He sighs, a tear clashing with the dried up scars on her wrist and he glances up at her, his green eyes staring into her blue ones, "Why would you do this?"

She gulps, not knowing what to say as he does the unimaginable for Clare, and brings her wrist up to his lips. At first, Clare is slightly startled, but then she relaxes as the gentle touch makes her legs go numb.

He pulled away, the warmth from his lips making her whimper as he rubbed his thumb over her dried cuts soothingly, "Promise me you'll never do it again...promise."

How could she say no to him?

_**He was a God to her, a life savior, and not because of the charming looks, but the message and the lyrics that he portrays through his music.**_

"W-why?" She asks, as Elijah smiles at her, and whispers, "You're so beautiful...I really wouldn't like to see a girl like you on the news one day and the reporter telling me that she was lying in a dumpster or hanging in her closet."

Clare's heart raced, realizing that those were some choices that crossed her mind during her darkest hours.

She smiles, not wanting to leave this moment as she whispers, "I-I promise I won't give up...if I can just get one hug. Just one, and if you don't want to, I under-." Clare immediately stopped talking when she felt his strong, comforting arms around her shaking, petite frame.

At first, Clare believes that this really isn't happening.

Her heart is racing so fast against his, what feels like, stone chest. Elijah's arms remain in their place, not letting go, and after about two minutes, Clare whimpers in the crook of his neck, not being able to hold back the sobs that escape her lips.

"No more tears...no more crying," he whispered, and Clare's heart stopped, knowing that he was singing a part of one of her favorite songs by him. Her chest heaved against him as he pulled back, curling a piece of her hair and gently pushing it behind her ear as he whispered, "Don't let the person making you do this to yourself get the benefit in watching you suffer, smile through the pain...even when it's close to unbearable, just do it."

Clare nodded, biting back her bottom lip as Elijah used the pad of his thumb to gently wipe away the tears staining her irritated cheeks. When he let go of her, everything around Clare stopped.

_**The heat he was producing, the comfort he had created, everything had vanished within an instant and again...she felt, alone.**_

Elijah smirked at Clare, as it began to drizzle. Clare switched her weight from her left foot to her right as she gripped her bag strap, "T-Thank you...for, for everything you sing and do."

"Anytime," he whispered, and as the security guards began to guide Elijah into his limo, Clare waved at him. Even though she knew he probably couldn't see her, and she knew he wasn't going to be around when she broke down, just the fact that she got to see his actual presence, was enough for her to move on.

The rain started to turn heavy and so she began to walk away, nowhere in particular. "Hey, beautiful!" was called out and she glanced around curiously, noticing that the rain had stopped above her body and she smiled, seeing Elijah next to her holding up an umbrella.

"Are you coming with me or not?"

At that moment, Clare's shattered heart had healed, her cuts had sealed up and her mind wasn't in a downward spiral. For once in her miserable life, when she felt her hand being interlocked and dragged away, she felt safe, happy...and cared for.

"Why are you helping me?" Clare choked out as Elijah tried to lure her into the limo so she wouldn't get sick in the freezing, pouring rain, "I'm helping you because I know how it feels to be in the place you're in. When I was like you, if I were you, you would've gotten in this car alone, and I would've given up on myself. And, I'm not going to let that happen to you."

"Why?" She asked, as Elijah grew impatient, "Stop asking questions...stop questioning and go with it, go with the fact that you need help and I am going to help you. You need it, you know it, and I'm offering."

"But there's so many other people out there," Clare whispered, and besides, he didn't even know her name. Why did he care so much about a strange girl with a broken past and cuts on her arm?

"That's the point...there's so many out there, but I've chosen you."

**END OF WHAT MAKES YOU BEAUTIFUL**

* * *

><p><strong>You're all beautiful, no matter how different…you're all frickin' beautiful! Don't let anybody tell you otherwise! :D<strong>

**Reviews? :)**

Love you guys,

Cliffhanger Girl

3


End file.
